Michelle Teheux: An unlikely triumvirate reaches agreement

Iím not sure how often bad-boy celebrity Russell Brand, President Barack Obama and the pope all agree upon something, but Iím guessing not very often.

All three are talking about income inequality, so if you ignored this issue back when only liberals were talking about it, maybe itís time to give it another whirl. When vastly different people with vastly different world views begin to converge upon an idea, you know something is happening.

We all know that the wealthiest among us are doing disproportionately well, and the poor and middle class are losing ground. We know that minimum wage has much less buying power than it had when first instituted.

But, we lament, paying workers more is bad for business! If we raise the minimum wage, fast-food joints will have to raise the cost of burgers, and you know that all heck will break loose if people cannot get cheap cheeseburgers 24/7.

Nobody ever thinks to ask what will happen to the extra money in workersí pockets if minimum wage ó and other modest wages ó are increased.

What do you think people who donít have enough money for their basic needs do when they get more money? What do you think people of somewhat better but still modest means do when they get more money?

In case you cannot figure this out for yourself, Iíll reveal the answer: They spend it.

They buy their kids new jeans. They replace the broken lamp. They might go out to eat. They get a new mattress. They fix their car. Before you know it, that money is gone, and guess what? The guys who sell jeans and lamps or run restaurants or fix cars got some extra business.

What do very wealthy people do with their money? I havenít the faintest idea, really, but I know that putting an extra couple of hundred dollars per month in their hands is not going to lead to them running straight out to Best Buy to get that new 40-inch TV that theyíve been trying forever to save up for.

Our economy depends on people spending money to buy stuff, but a large number of our people have almost nothing to spend after paying their mortgage, car payment and utilities and buying groceries and gas. The relatively smaller number of people whose budgets allow them to spend freely cannot repair the economy alone.

Moreover, I have a very big personal problem with my income taxes going to pay for basic living expenses for people whose labor for successful businesses is making their corporate overlords very wealthy. Why should I help pay for these folksí utilities and rent and food when they work full time and ought to be able to pay for their own needs? Somebody has to pay for the basic living expenses of the person working for minimum wage. It can come from tax dollars or it can come out of corporate profits. If you like the idea of letting the business that employs these folks pass the cost of their employeesí living expenses on to you as a taxpayer, all I can say is youíre a much bigger philanthropist than I am.

Oh, Iíve heard the usual arguments. Places that pay minimum wage will simply cut the number of employees ó which is known to be bull by all who have worked at such places. These businesses already keep the absolute bare minimum number of employees necessary on each shift.

Or how about the old gem that raising wages means the extra labor costs will be passed on to the consumer, causing prices and thus inflation to rise? Businesses cannot simply raise prices at will, as there is a point that customers will run to a competitor, or just not buy at all. So if labor costs increase, a business might sometimes have to ó gasp ó settle for slightly lower profits. Considering that corporate profits and stock prices are sky-high even as a huge number of full-time workers are on food stamps, Iím not very concerned if the CEO and stockholders have to do with a little less in order to pay their people an honest wage.

Itís not about being anti-business ó nobody is anti-business. Itís about being pro-worker, pro-fairness and pro-equality.

Ultimately, itís about being in favor of the well-being of every individual worker and of our economy as a whole.

If you donít believe me, ask Brand, Obama or the pope.

Michelle Teheux may be reached at mteheux@pekintimes.com. The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the newspaper.

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